IICA presented a new roadmap to the Agricultural Research Institutes of Mercosur and Chile
Santiago, Chile, 9 August 2018 (IICA). Manuel Otero, Director General of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), outlined the Institute’s new 2018-2022 Medium Term Plan (MTP), in a presentation in Santiago to representatives of the National Agricultural Research Institutes of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay. The MTP is the roadmap for the hemispheric organization and was recently approved by almost 20 countries.
The plan, which seeks to boost agricultural activity and rural progress in the Americas through a renewed model of technical cooperation, was presented by the head of IICA within the context of the LXI Meeting of the Executive Committee of the Cooperative Program for the Development of Agrifood and Agroindustrial Technology in the Southern Cone (PROCISUR).
Otero maintained that “With this new MTP, we would like to develop a closer connection to the countries and to their needs. We believe that IICA should be an American-based institution with worldwide influence, and that regional matters should serve as the point of convergence for actions at the country level and at the hemispheric level. Communication and a willingness to embrace new partnerships is the course that we have charted for ourselves”.
PROCISUR, which was created in 1980 with support from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), is a joint initiative of the National Agricultural Research Institutes of the Southern Cone and IICA. Its purpose is to promote reciprocal cooperation aimed at improving social equality, competitiveness, the sustainability of natural resources, food safety, territorial development and the productivity of the regional Agrifood and Agroindustrial System (AAS).
Otero added that, “We would like to employ an interdisciplinary approach to generate programs of action, based on issues such as the bioeconomy and production development; territorial development with a rural and family farming focus; international trade and regional integration; climate change and risk management; and agricultural health, food safety and quality”. He emphasized IICA’s role as a bridge between countries, regions and institutions.
Santiago Bertoni, head of the Paraguayan Institute of Agricultural Technology (IPTA) was elected as the new President of PROCISUR at the meeting, and there was an analysis of the Program’s strategy for the next four years and of the results of the existing plan. According to Cecilia Gianonni, the Executive Secretary of PROCISUR, representatives also met with the Plant Health Committee (COSAVE) to identify opportunities for collaboration, to strengthen regional phytosanitary integration and to explore contributions from the perspective of research and knowledge.
Also attending the meeting of PROCISUR’s Executive Committee were Federico Villareal, IICA’s Director of Technical Cooperation and Jaime Flores, the Institute’s Representative in Chile.
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Isaac Zúñiga Keith, journalist, IICA